Torchwood: Divergence
Book Three: Rheoleiddiad
Chapter 11
Lois came into the Hub at half-six with a large paper bag in both arms. She'd closed the TIC kiosk at 6:00, then made a trip out to grab dinner for everyone. They'd opted for soup and breadsticks from the Italian place close by, so she was careful not to tip the sack.
"Dinner's here," she called as she started across the deck plates. "I'll put it in the Boardroom, shall I?"
"Lovely," Turlough half-smiled, coming away from his workstation. "I'll grab drinks."
"I think Jack and Ianto will probably be dining in their room," Martha added as she trotted up from the Autopsy Lab.
"Let me get all the orders sorted out then, and I'll take theirs in on a tray," Habiba nodded, putting the bag down on the Boardroom table and starting to unload it. "Okay… Wedding Soup is yours. Italian Chicken is mine… Eggplant Parmesan is Turlough's. So, I've got an order of Tomato Bisque with Mini Cheese Tortellini for Jack, and Cream of Mushroom with Prosciutto for Ianto. All I need's some breadsticks, and…"
"I brought you a tray," Turlough announced as he entered, bottles of water, juice, and beer currently occupying said item.
In short order the tray was unloaded, then re-laden with the correct soups, a quantity of wrapped breadsticks, two bottles of water, spoons, and napkins. Lois hefted it and exited the Boardroom, moving quickly but carefully back out into the Hub and over to the office, glad the desk lamp was on when she arrived. She sat the tray on the desk, then lightly knocked on the bookcase frame.
"Come in," Jack called evenly, looking up from the book in his lap when the door opened. "Oh, must be dinner time."
He marked his place and slid the big book up onto the top of the headboard, rose from the mattress to hold the door wide for their receptionist.
"Go ahead and sit it on the night table," the American suggested. "Thanks for delivering. I figured I'd just to grab it when everything was set out."
"I thought this would be better," Habiba smiled, heading back for the door. "Are you both doing okay? Need anything else from the kitchenette?"
"I think we're set," Harkness reassured, turning to his partner nonetheless. "You want coffee or anything, Ianto?"
"No…" the younger man rasped, his voice a barely audible hiss as he carefully shifted beneath the covers. "This is fine… thank you, Lois…"
"I don't know if it'll help," the young black woman offered as she prepared to close the door. "But my Gran used to give me warm milk with a little cocoa, honey, clove, and ginger when I had sore throats or lost my voice. I know this isn't quite the same, but I'll make you some later if you want to try it."
"That actually sounds nice…" Ianto whispered hoarsely. "Maybe before you head home…"
"Right," Lois smiled. "I'll check over the comms to be sure you're awake. Enjoy your dinner… oh, and I can come get the tray when you're done if you like. Just let me know."
Then she was closing the door and exiting the office.
"I don't think she'll ever be quite as amazing at the personal aide stuff as you are," Jack commented with a lopsided smile. "But she's good."
"She's very good," the bandaged Welshman grated in agreement, gingerly working himself up into a seated position against the pillows so he'd be able to eat. "Better at the TIC kiosk than I was…"
"Only because she had you to train her and share a couple years' worth of contacts and experience," Harkness insisted, helping the twenty-six-year-old get comfortable before putting a pillow alongside his left thigh and settling the tray across it and his blanket muffled lap. "You pioneered that position, and always did tonnes of other things besides. Lois may be okay co-ordinating communications and doing minor field work, but I can't see her ever dumping corpses in the Bay or feeding the Weevils, you know?"
Ianto managed a tired smile, carefully trying a spoonful of soup. It was plenty hot enough to be palatable, but not so scalding he had to cool each mouthful, and wonderfully smooth since the wild mushrooms, basil, rosemary, roasted garlic, and smoky prosciutto were puréed with the cream base. He sighed, feeling a little less shaky and unsettled. Jack had pulled the chair over to the bedside, using the tray to keep his water and breadsticks handy but holding his own container of soup to facilitate slurping it from the spoon without making a mess. He smiled as he watched his partner enjoying the meal, finding his own that much more satisfying because of it. They ate in companionable silence, both content for the moment with the simple pleasure of good food and quiet company.
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Over in the Boardroom, the rest of the team members present were finding their dinners just as enjoyable.
"How was Ianto when you took in their meal?" Turlough asked curiously, passing Lois the breadsticks.
"Moving pretty slow," Habiba shrugged. "Sounds horrible, but seemed reasonably calm. I told him I'd make him my Gran's sore throat remedy later, see if it helps."
"I'm sure the Shadows in his body are run off their proverbial feet," the redhead beside her nodded. "Between trying to heal the rough emergency surgery I did and purging that venom form his system, repairing torn up vocal cords is probably low on the list. I took a peek with the Bekaran after I had him stitched and stapled, because it was obvious he couldn't make a sound anymore by that time. He literally frayed apart his vocal cords between straining not to cry out and the actual screaming he did when that failed. At one point he even asked for a gag so we didn't have to hear him. I told him to just scream, because at least that way I could tell he was still breathing."
"Wow…" Lois blinked, pausing with a spoonful of soup half way to her mouth. "I'm so glad I went straight to the kiosk when we got back. Remind me to never look at that part of the CCTV recordings, yeah?"
"You did a really good job though," Martha told the young Trion prince to her right. "Very clean considering there wasn't time to play nice. Quick but thorough and well closed. I get the feeling you've done something like it before."
"On the battlefield when I was fifteen," Turlough half-smiled. "During one of the few campaigns our side won on Trion in the civil war, my Second in Command ended up with an energy bayonet broken off inside his abdominal cavity. Our unit physician was on the far side of the skirmish trying to patch up the rest of the wounded, so I had to take care of the extraction myself before we could safely move Dryden off the field. I'm surprised he survived it really, doubly so that he didn't crop up with some hideous infection considering I wasn't working in anything close to sanitary conditions."
"Sounds like you had a charming childhood," Martha commented with raised brows. "I feel bad that you grew up in that kind of situation, but it really makes you quite the goldmine of experience for us now."
"My view exactly," the young alien chuckled, saluting her with a spoonful of soup. "I gave up resenting my childhood a long time ago."
"Does anyone know when Gwen's coming back?" Lois queried, offering both of her companions more breadsticks.
"She's supposed to let Jack know tomorrow morning," the team physician shrugged. "Guess it depends on how settled things are at home and how long Ianto's likely to be scared to death of being around her."
"Could be a while then on the latter front," Turlough commented as he reached for his bottle of water. "The venom from that imbedded spike was strong enough that half the dose he got would have terrified a herd of twenty adult elephants for weeks. He was lucky to escape that nightmare at all, and it's bound to prey on him for quite some time. He has to be one of the calmest, most patient, self-contained people I've ever met. The few times he's lost it around here have tracked back to some pretty ugly emotional or physical overloads that would have had most others locked in a padded room for months of intensive therapy. Worst thing about this though, is no matter how brave or calm he tries to be, his response to being around Gwen is going to be involuntary panic for a week or more at best."
"And that's really sad, because they're such good friends otherwise," Habiba sighed. "I hope this doesn't put a permanent wedge between them."
"Ianto'll fight it," Martha reassured. "Tooth and nail, until he has it under control. As long as Gwen's patient and doesn't get tetchy if he avoids her during the process, everything will work out fine in time."
"No offense," Lois put in quietly. "But she doesn't strike me as being the calm and patient type. Maybe having her take a few extra days off wouldn't be a bad thing."
The other two nodded silent agreement, steadily moving toward the end of their meal. A few minutes later, they all heard the slight hiss that indicated access to their headsets.
[Lois…] Jack's voice called pleasantly. [Whenever you have a free minute, Ianto has the tray stacked and organised for pick up. Great meal… thank for making the trip.]
"My pleasure, Captain," the young receptionist replied with a smile. "I'll be in shortly."
[Thank you,] Harkness responded. [Any Rift activity register lately?]
"Couple of minor spikes," Turlough supplied, rising to start cleaning up the table. "No pass-throughs or major disturbances detected. Acts like it might be building up to something though."
The surge alarm echoed through the Hub just then, almost as though the Rift had been listening to their conversation. Obviously their brief period of down-time was officially over.
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AN: Yes, I've taken liberties with Turlough's past (and current life, as well as Tegan's for that matter)… I dug up whatever I could, but some of it made no sense to me and some was very contradictory, so I just did my own thing. It's AU, so I feel I'm allowed.
I don't know what's going on with the site and the whole e-mail notification thing. I've done what they said twice, and still don't seem to be getting notifications for anything. If their "fix" doesn't work, I surely don't know what to do about it.
And I'm still very limited on internet access at this time, so I apologise if I'm late answering a review.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM